PSYA02 - Chapter 15.docx

Chapter 15Treatment of Psychological Disorders Treatment Getting Help to Those Who Need It the personal costs of the disorders involve anguish to the sufferers as well as interference in their ability to carry on the activities of daily lifeWhy People Cannot or Will Not Seek Treatmentpeople may fail to get treatment because of 3 major problems 1 People may not realize that their disorder needs to be treatedthe origin of mental illness is hidden and usually cannot bediagnosed by a blood testsome people believe that mental illness is a sign of personal weakness or that people suffering from are not trying hard enough tohelp themselves 2 There may be barriers to treatment such as beliefs and circumstancesthat keep people from getting helpin some cases families discourage their loved ones from seekinghelp because the public acknowledgment of a psychological disordermay be seen as an embarrassment to the familythere may be financial obstaclesbarriers may even arise from treatment providers or facilitiesthemselves such as long waiting lists etc 3 Even people who acknowledge they have a problem may not knowwhere to look for serviceseven when people seek and find help they sometimes do notreceive the most effective treatmentsbefore choosing or prescribing a therapy we need to know whatkinds of treatments are available and understand which treatmentsare best for particular disordersApproaches to TreatmentTreatments can be divided into 2 kindspsychotherapy in which a person interacts w a psychotherapist mental or biological treatments in which the mental disorder is treatedw drugs or surgery Psychological Therapies Healing the Mind through Interaction PSYCHOTHERAPYis an interaction bw a therapist and someone suffering from a psychological problem w the goal of providing support or relief from the problem each approach to psychotherapy is unique in its goals aims and methodsECLECTIC PSYCHOTHERAPYa form of psychotherapy that involves drawing on techniques from different forms of therapy depending on the client and the problem this allows the therapists to apply an appropriate theatrical perspective that is suited to the problem at hand rather than adhering to a single theatrical perspective for al clients and all types of problems Psychodynamic Therapy PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPIESexplore childhood events and encourage individuals to use this understanding to develop insight into their psychological problems there are a number of different psychodynamic therapies but they all share the belief that the path to overcoming psychological problems is to develop insight into the unconscious memories impulses wishes and conflicts that are assumed to underlie these problems Psychoanalysis psychoanalysis assumes that humans are born w aggressive and sexual urges that are repressed during childhood development through the use of defense mechanisms psychoanalysts encourage their clients to bring these repressed conflicts into consciousness so that the clients can understand them and reduce their unwanted influencesHow to Develop Insight a psychoanalyst uses several key techniques to develop insightFree Associationin free association the client reports every thought that enters the mind wo censorship or filtering this strategy allows the stream of consciousness to flow unimpededDream Analysispsychoanalysts treat dreams as metaphors that symbolize unconscious conflicts or whishes that contain disguised clues that the therapist can help the client understand Interpretationthis is the process by which the therapist deciphers the meaning underlying what the client says and does